I'm sorry if you think it's wrong to compare my little pony to anime. Contrary to your statement, at the my little pony convention I attended, I found there was a correlation with Anime. They were selling K-ON my little pony shirts where they were selling the official convention shirt. I'm not saying the similarity is direct. It's clear to me that the kind of crowd that anime attracts is similar in nature to the my little pony crowd.

I didn't say it was wrong, just meant its a wide brush to paint anime with. I'm not a fan of k-on or a lot of other anime, like Marag said, its a broad subject. Please check out my suggestions, it should become very apparent why your comparison is flawed.

I'm sorry if you think it's wrong to compare my little pony to anime. Contrary to your statement, at the my little pony convention I attended, I found there was a correlation with Anime. They were selling K-ON my little pony shirts where they were selling the official convention shirt. I'm not saying the similarity is direct. It's clear to me that the kind of crowd that anime attracts is similar in nature to the my little pony crowd.

I didn't say it was wrong, just meant its a wide brush to paint anime with. I'm not a fan of k-on or a lot of other anime, like Marag said, its a broad subject. Please check out my suggestions, it should become very apparent why your comparison is flawed.

Anime is much broader than MLP. But they're both cartoons and they both have somewhat of a cult following.

That's way too vague to even bother saying. Blasphemy and Envy are both bands, and they have somewhat of a cult following. Yet they are not very similar are they?

I've heard a million times people with a very limited exposure to anime saying that it is "like this and like that", judging an entire media based on their minimal experience with it. It gets annoying.

Some anime does share their fandom with mlp, I do not deny that. But is only a part of a huge fandom

I'm not sure I could make my point in this post. Fuck that, I can't think sraight right now

To be fair, I said read, the gunnm & berserk manga are much more worth your time and if you wish to continue the story you will end up reading them anyways. I dont think Takemitsu Zamurai has been made into an anime yet.

No, you are dreadful.As for Azu-nyan... You either praise her, or die. Who takes anime fans seriously when they attack each other? Sorry man, I just can't understand how someone can like MLP but despise K-On... That's absurd...I can understand people not liking K-on at all, but not liking K-on when likin MLP is like... Fuck...In any case, tried to watch Darker than Black but I was too sleepy and this was too complex... Anyone else has seen it? Is it good at any point?

No, you are dreadful.As for Azu-nyan... You either praise her, or die. Who takes anime fans seriously when they attack each other? Sorry man, I just can't understand how someone can like MLP but despise K-On... That's absurd...I can understand people not liking K-on at all, but not liking K-on when likin MLP is like... Fuck...In any case, tried to watch Darker than Black but I was too sleepy and this was too complex... Anyone else has seen it? Is it good at any point?

I'm the one who said I liked MLP, dude, not him... I think you got confused... just sayin

In any case, tried to watch Darker than Black but I was too sleepy and this was too complex... Anyone else has seen it? Is it good at any point?

I loved it. One of my favorite animes. Might be a language barrier (if I may assume) that led to the confusion. Can get confusing even for me, especially in Season 2 and the OVAs. Gelal would be a better user to explain that clusterfuck than me.

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gomorro wrote:

Yesterday was the birthday of school pal and I met the chick of my sigh (I've talked about here before, the she-wolf I use to be inlove with)... Maaan she was using a mini-skirt too damn insane... Dude you could saw her entire soul every time she sit...

In any case, tried to watch Darker than Black but I was too sleepy and this was too complex... Anyone else has seen it? Is it good at any point?

I loved it. One of my favorite animes. Might be a language barrier (if I may assume) that led to the confusion. Can get confusing even for me, especially in Season 2 and the OVAs. Gelal would be a better user to explain that clusterfuck than me.

Confusing as fuck. Though I loved the astronomical references... It was too complex to watch at night...May catch it on later, if it is as good as you both say.

Watched JoJo first ep today. Very good, though they compressed things a little too much. Still, even with the budget, the animations is competent and it was very satisfying to see Dio getting beat the shit out of him.Can't wait for Speedwagon on the next ep!

I kind of think of Anime as a quirky, slightly nerdy cult following. Similar to My little pony - friendship is magic (of which i'm more of a concrete fan of). I could never understand why people like anime so much.

I actually agree with this statement. I don't think he's trying to compare a single cartoon against an entire medium; rather, he's comparing fanbases, and let's be honest, we have a lot of things in common. We both create fan-fiction and fan-art. We dress up as the characters and hold conventions. We obsess over how it is created, including appreciating the soundtrack. Another angle is that both fandoms are occasionally persecuted for liking what we like without irony. Looking at this way, we could find all sorts of groups of fans that appreciate what they love in similar ways, from sports fans to trekkies and from metalheads to furries (yeah, I went there). I'm not suggesting some kind of fuzzy-wuzzy brotherhood of nerdy outcasts, but that we should at least recognize when we do have things in common and respect each other for it. I think that the main reason why bronies are maligned by other nerds is simply because MLP fandom is just so new. I'm certain that as the franchise grows in the next few years, and as Lauren Faust continues to do good work, they'll settle in as with the rest of us as another type of nerd.

While I consider myself to be something of an animation buff, I don't think I'm passionate enough to be a brony. I've seen the cartoon and consider it to be above average by American television animation, with slick execution and clever writing, but I didn't dive into it. I think I'm more fascinated by how quickly the brony fandom exploded to become something to be reckoned with.

metaldiscussor666 wrote:

I find the Anime I have seen (a relatively extensive list of completed series) to be generally rather easily digestible with stylish artwork decent story, if not hard to follow story wise. I can't say I've watched enough Anime that i'm "sold" on being an anime fan. Different people like things more than others I suppose.

By the looks of your anime experiences, you prefer stories that are narrative and character driven. If you don't mind, I'd like to give some recommendations: If you liked Black Lagoon, you might like other gunslinging anime like Trigun, Cowboy Bebop, Outlaw Star, Mezzo DSA, Noir, Madlax, and Gunslinger Girl. Other strong stories included Fullmetal Alchemist, Shangri-La, Guin Saga, and Full Metal Panic. And if now that you've seen Evangelion, I recommend Gurren Lagann; made by the same people but tackling some of the same ideas from the completely opposite direction. If ALL of that fails, then at least check out Irresponsible Captain Tylor. It's a parody of space adventures (like Star Wars), with a hero who is the most successful slacker in ALL of animation. Great stuff and generally overlooked.

sortalikeadream wrote:

Can someone PM me the best place to get hard-engsubbed anime torrents? (as in, I don't need a subtitle file in addition to the video file)

Sorry that this isn't a PM, but I figured you aren't the only one with this question. Most anime is now in .mp4 or .mkv formats, which allow for subtitle tracks and dual audio videos. While there's always the infamous Bay of Pirates, there are a few trackers dedicated to anime. Two that I know of are Nyaa Torrents, and BakaBT. The former is good for finding the latest fansubs while the latter is good for finding older series. However, BakaBT requires you to create an account and maintain a ratio. Another good site is AnimeSuki, which doesn't host torrents, but does help you find them based on series. Hopefully, this helps you (and others) in your anime "acquisitions."

Anyway, LOTGH has definitely been good so far, the empire is like a nazi wet dream "Inferior Genes Ban"

When I watched this back in 2010, I pmed Xeogred so many times to give him my updates and reactions to the show. I still have them and reading through them reminds me of how pumped I was throughout the entire thing. Poplan I even remember being my favorite character.

Olivier Poplan - LEGEND OF THE GALACTIC PIMP!!!

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gomorro wrote:

Yesterday was the birthday of school pal and I met the chick of my sigh (I've talked about here before, the she-wolf I use to be inlove with)... Maaan she was using a mini-skirt too damn insane... Dude you could saw her entire soul every time she sit...

pretty good, but confusing as hell. it reminded me of Texhnolyze in a lot of ways, but vaguer. everything feels like just a glimpse into that world. i'm ambivalent about the endingwhat really makes this manga shine is Tsutomu's art, his characters might not be very expressive but I like their designs, and more importantly, the setting is amazing

Not sure if y'all are too cool for Pokemon, but I'm watching the first season and it feels great. Not just nostalgia, although I'm sure that's a huge part of it. I'm trying to trackdown the original japanese ones (with english subtitles of course) so if anyone can point me in the right direction I'd appreciate it.

I read that someone fansubbed the first 13 episodes but I can't even find those.

Also I can notice a distinct difference in the animation and art style of these early pokemon episodes compared to what gets aired in America now adays, so I'd love some recommendation on other animes from around that time period that I need to watch. As a general rule I am more interested in animes that have more, uhm.... mature themes I guess you could say, but since I'm watching Pokemon I obviously have some wiggle room. Also you never know how dumbed down what we wound up getting states side was compared to the original. So just throw names at me and I'll do my own research to prioritize. Thanks.

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John_Sunlight wrote:

Also to the guy who won't check out something amateurish: how are you into metal??

Not sure if y'all are too cool for Pokemon, but I'm watching the first season and it feels great. Not just nostalgia, although I'm sure that's a huge part of it. I'm trying to trackdown the original japanese ones (with english subtitles of course) so if anyone can point me in the right direction I'd appreciate it.

I read that someone fansubbed the first 13 episodes but I can't even find those.

Also I can notice a distinct difference in the animation and art style of these early pokemon episodes compared to what gets aired in America now adays, so I'd love some recommendation on other animes from around that time period that I need to watch. As a general rule I am more interested in animes that have more, uhm.... mature themes I guess you could say, but since I'm watching Pokemon I obviously have some wiggle room. Also you never know how dumbed down what we wound up getting states side was compared to the original. So just throw names at me and I'll do my own research to prioritize. Thanks.

Pokemon originally started airing in 1997 (and hasn't really stopped since; it's over 700 episodes!), so perhaps you'd enjoy stuff from the second half of the nineties. Fortunately, Pokemon was VERY much a product of its time, so you'll find a lot of similar tropes and production techniques. Right off the top of my head, I'd go with Slayers, Outlaw Star, Trigun, Soul Hunter (also known as Hoshin Engi), and Rurouni Kenshin, mostly because they have somewhat similar beats as Pokemon (Heroic, but with a decent helping of silliness).

As for finding Pokemon in Japanese, I admit that I had some trouble as well. Pirate Bay supposedly had some, but they were just raw, with no subtitles. I did find some by searching on Isohunt, but each torrent was an individual episode. I imagine there's a site or a torrent that has them, but I'm afraid I don't know what it would be.

Is anyone else following this current season? Just watched the first ep of Psycho-Pass.People exploding, rape, grimdarkness, and a retardedly clueless protagonist, right on the beginning. Urobochi my boy, never change (:

Sorry that this isn't a PM, but I figured you aren't the only one with this question. Most anime is now in .mp4 or .mkv formats, which allow for subtitle tracks and dual audio videos. While there's always the infamous Bay of Pirates, there are a few trackers dedicated to anime. Two that I know of are Nyaa Torrents, and BakaBT. The former is good for finding the latest fansubs while the latter is good for finding older series. However, BakaBT requires you to create an account and maintain a ratio. Another good site is AnimeSuki, which doesn't host torrents, but does help you find them based on series. Hopefully, this helps you (and others) in your anime "acquisitions."

No problem, I just had a hunch the mods wanted to discourage discussion of piracy. Do you know of a program that will let be encode the subtitles into the video if I have the subtitle file? The reason I ask is because I like to plug a USB stick into my TV, and I doubt my TV will let me load a subtitle file and a video. I've already managed to convert some audio to aac so my TV can understand it... how much harder can it be to add the subtitles

I'm at work right now so i might not get the name completely right, but the program i use to merge or edit subtitle files with videos is SubtitleEdit. I've used it hundreds if times, even on the entire dragonball and Z series. Works perfectly for any mkv file especially. Using another software even allows hardcoding. I'd elaborate but i'm on my phone at work.

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gomorro wrote:

Yesterday was the birthday of school pal and I met the chick of my sigh (I've talked about here before, the she-wolf I use to be inlove with)... Maaan she was using a mini-skirt too damn insane... Dude you could saw her entire soul every time she sit...

Watched Vampire Hunter D and Vampire Hunter D Bloodlust (though in the opposite order). Pretty great stuff. VHD was funny, but actually informs the later characterization of D in VHDB in a surprisingly fulfilling way. Obviously the sequel is better in animation, visuals, action, story, pacing, lack of children, voice acting, etc, but it was interesting to see D's genuinely good nature fleshed out to a greater degree in the antecedent tale while also explaining his willingness to deal with problems nonviolently (relatively... well, nonlethally anyway). VHDB seems to assume that you assume that D is basically mercenary (though with an agenda) but when you compare his later actions and apparent motivations with his previous actions and statements it becomes clear that his seemingly amorphous code of warrior honor is actually a highly developed and compassionate system of morality, something quite rare in these kinds of stories and a great alternative to the many, many sociopathic "heroes" that populate fiction we like based solely on their stylishness. A+ for both.

_________________"Since that time, I have received highest level confirmations that such organizations not only exist but are rooted in satanic ritual murder and extend across America’s political landscape into nearly every community."

Yes, that was pretty funny. I think what happened is that his power requires his focused attention to use and D took him out so fast he wasn't expecting it. What concerned me more than that was the apparent lack of distance between the vampire's lair, his techno dungeon, and the human village. They jump between those three locations instantly between scenes, makes it seem like they're all right next to each other. I wonder who sold them the deed to that plot?

_________________"Since that time, I have received highest level confirmations that such organizations not only exist but are rooted in satanic ritual murder and extend across America’s political landscape into nearly every community."

I'm not sure if anyone's brought this up yet, but there's a heroic fantasy manga called Bastard!! that has great art and kickass fight scenes, plus a boatload of references/shout outs to heavy metal bands. It's about an extremely powerful anti-hero sorcerer named Dark Schneider who fights monsters & demons.

_________________If you think I'll sit around as the world goes by, you're thinkin' like a fool cause it's a case of do or die.Out there is a fortune waitin' to be had, you think I'll let it go you're mad....You've got another thing comin'!

I'm at work right now so i might not get the name completely right, but the program i use to merge or edit subtitle files with videos is SubtitleEdit. I've used it hundreds if times, even on the entire dragonball and Z series. Works perfectly for any mkv file especially. Using another software even allows hardcoding. I'd elaborate but i'm on my phone at work.

Thanks for the tip. The program is very streamlined and efficient.

_________________

John_Sunlight wrote:

Also to the guy who won't check out something amateurish: how are you into metal??

I find the Anime I have seen (a relatively extensive list of completed series) to be generally rather easily digestible with stylish artwork decent story, if not hard to follow story wise. I can't say I've watched enough Anime that i'm "sold" on being an anime fan. Different people like things more than others I suppose.

By the looks of your anime experiences, you prefer stories that are narrative and character driven. If you don't mind, I'd like to give some recommendations: If you liked Black Lagoon, you might like other gunslinging anime like Trigun, Cowboy Bebop, Outlaw Star, Mezzo DSA, Noir, Madlax, and Gunslinger Girl. Other strong stories included Fullmetal Alchemist, Shangri-La, Guin Saga, and Full Metal Panic. And if now that you've seen Evangelion, I recommend Gurren Lagann; made by the same people but tackling some of the same ideas from the completely opposite direction. If ALL of that fails, then at least check out Irresponsible Captain Tylor. It's a parody of space adventures (like Star Wars), with a hero who is the most successful slacker in ALL of animation. Great stuff and generally overlooked.

Trust me; I don't put much effort into choosing what anime I want to watch. The problem with anime for me is it's a virtual crap shoot (whatever crap shoot is supposed to mean). I usually base my decision of what to view based off a couple factors. Does it have interesting animation? Is it recommended? Being recommended is basically the only way I can find it, unless it's porno anime. In which case I can judge based off the tags what i'm interested in (don't take me for a guy who even watches that much porn to begin with). More factors are, can I stand the first few episodes? Is there a factor of darkness? Sadness? Other than that, it really depends on how the anime turns out, which isn't something I can really predict.

I can be specific about anime I like, and why I liked it.

Animation is a very important aspect of an anime to me. In an anime like neon genesis evangelion, every frame was a treat to just gaze at. If an anime has dry and bland animation (like blood +) I have a hard time getting into it. If it has spectacular animation like genocyber, but a rather weak plot, it's still gonna please me. Not only did that show have good animation, it had blood and guts! I'm sorry if this sounds wrong, but there's just something spectacularly awesome about the first scene of an episode being a child's guts being blown out. Although in some animes like Elfen Lied it just comes off as pointless, especially when the rest of the anime is cringeworthy, which is a common problem with anime for me. If you're into anime, i'm almost sure you know what I mean by cringeworthy. I liked how the animation in neon genesis evangelion and genocyber actually looked drawn and not computer generated. That kind of adds dimension to the viewing experience for me.

Besides animation, I really care about plot. Animation is body, the story is the everything else. Neon genesis evangelion did become a bit hard to follow. It became convoluted in the last episode/movie, which isn't a deterrent for me. Cowboy Bebop, which had pretty spectacular animation/ It seemed to lose momentum with each episode. Each episode kind of stood alone, as if it kind of loosely tied into the last, which made me get tired of it and drop it. Black Lagoon was very cool, I can't really think of anything to complain about except the same the same thing I said about cowboy bebop. It never seemed to gain a whole lot of momentum over the course of the series. Overall, it was okay.

Plots I don't like: Higurashi's plot was just soooooo bleak right from the start. Stuff just seemed to happen spontaneously. Like the magic swim trunks thing. I stopped watching after the first episode because i'm not dumb enough to be suckered into an anime by an entire episode based off silly juvenile shenanigans that are all the consequence of some guy who's magic swim trunks make his life topsy turvy. Who is this show made for? Kids, or people mature enough to get to the supposed disturbing and scary parts that supposedly come later on? I don't know and I didn't really care enough to find out.Code Geass's plot was not interesting, and the characters just sucked.I can't even stand are animes without even a conflict. Fuck those high school animes. I watched clannad, I watched K-ON, I watched lucky star (which was one of the first animes I ever checked out). so boring. Honestly, it almost makes me want to vomit my own shit... okay that sounded wrong.

I think it's not that I haven't tried to get into anime, I think it's just that the anime that I have seen hasn't been great enough to really transform me into a "fan."

One non animation anime that's notable. I played the visual novel, bible black. It fucking ruled. I loved how the story changes based on the decisions you make. It ruled. When I watched the hentai, it fucking sucked. No coherency, just a mash of scenes from the story.

I'm at work right now so i might not get the name completely right, but the program i use to merge or edit subtitle files with videos is SubtitleEdit. I've used it hundreds if times, even on the entire dragonball and Z series. Works perfectly for any mkv file especially. Using another software even allows hardcoding. I'd elaborate but i'm on my phone at work.

Thanks for the tip. The program is very streamlined and efficient.

Glad to have been of help. It made me very proactive in cleaning up and adding subtitles because of how easy it was.

_________________

gomorro wrote:

Yesterday was the birthday of school pal and I met the chick of my sigh (I've talked about here before, the she-wolf I use to be inlove with)... Maaan she was using a mini-skirt too damn insane... Dude you could saw her entire soul every time she sit...

Sound like you'd be a big fan of Dead Leaves, FLCL, Redline, and Panty and Stocking. I'd also re-suggest Gurren Lagann. In one of the behind scenes stuff I heard/read (can't remember which), one of the goals with Gurren Lagann was to not have any static scenes, but that they tried to make EVERY shot dynamic in some way. (It's also a great counter-argument to Evangelion, in my opinion).

metaldiscussor666 wrote:

Besides animation, I really care about plot. Animation is body, the story is the everything else. . . . Cowboy Bebop, which had pretty spectacular animation/ It seemed to lose momentum with each episode. Each episode kind of stood alone, as if it kind of loosely tied into the last, which made me get tired of it and drop it.

Again, I recommend Trigun, Outlaw Star, Shangri-La, and Guin Saga. Their stories have greater momentum than Cowboy Bebop, which was very episodic. I would also tentatively re-suggest Fullmetal Alchemist. It takes a while to get into, but once it does, it's a roller coaster to the end.

metaldiscussor666 wrote:

. . . I can't even stand are animes without even a conflict. Fuck those high school animes. I watched clannad, I watched K-ON, I watched lucky star (which was one of the first animes I ever checked out). so boring.

At this point, I re-recommend Full Metal Panic. While it does eventually get to some serious plot later on, it starts out as a kind of parody of these kind of shows. Nothing livens up a high-school anime like a guy who brings his own guns to class. (NO REALLY!)

metaldiscussor666 wrote:

I think it's not that I haven't tried to get into anime, I think it's just that the anime that I have seen hasn't been great enough to really transform me into a "fan."

I think quite often there are expectations about being an anime fan (i.e. you have to like Haruhi, Lucky Star, Naruto, Bleach, Ghibli, Higurashi, Kanon, etc.), when there are all kinds of anime fans. I consider myself as more of an old-school anime fan as the stuff I like tends to be made in the 80s or 90s, or it has old-school sensibilities, like Gurren Lagann and Guin Saga. Worry less about what kind of anime you're "supposed" to like and just focus on what you actually like. The fact that you do like some things and that you want to find more things like it is enough in my opinion to qualify you as a "fan."

P.S. I still suggest Irresponsible Captain Tylor, for when you want to kick-back and watch a silly, screwball comedy. It's good stuff.

@Marag: Yeah I'm seeing some sites list it at 26 episodes, and some people speculate at this pacing the first part will finish around 10 episodes or so. That wouldn't leave much room for squeezing in 2-3 in 16 episodes, but yeah still just pure rumors. Hopefully it just goes all the way and covers everything. It doesn't sound like Jonathan is a big deal compared to Joseph, I'm pretty curious to see what he's all about. The funny thing is just me thinking "this" is supposedly the weakest part of the franchise? From what I hear. If I'm already loving it this much already... haha wow, can't wait for the later stuff.

The visual style is so off the hook. Dio's VA is one of the best as well, yet another great role for Koyasu. lol

The new HxH has been completely kicking ass with the Yorknew arc as well. Amazing stuff. I'm pretty excited for Greed Island as well, since I've heard from a few people that the OVA's butchered that arc pretty badly and trimmed down too much. So this new anime should cover that stuff a lot better. I assume I'll like the Chimera arc here animated more than in the manga, but eh... yeah. I have no idea what I'll think of it in the long run, completely hated 90% of it while reading it.

Fairy Tail is good again, back in canon.

Toriko continues to be amusing.

Saint Seiya Omega I need to catch up on ... it's kind of been a pain. Very underwhelming and not what I wanted so far.

Teggen Toppa Gurren Laggen is really frickin cool. I started watching it this evening and I haven't even had the slightest urge to stop watching it yet. The animation is top notch. The characters are very likable and interesting. The story seems to progress with each episode, which is exactly what I like. No episodic stuff. I think the character design (such as their faces) looks a little under developed, but that's a really minor complaint. It makes up for it with the animation's style and rapidly moving images and the immense amount of action and exciting dialog. I love the second main character too; That older guy, the Brigade leader guy.I can't really say enough about this anime. I just can't really remember those Japanese names too well...

Teggen Toppa Gurren Laggen is really frickin cool. I started watching it this evening and I haven't even had the slightest urge to stop watching it yet. The animation is top notch. The characters are very likable and interesting. The story seems to progress with each episode, which is exactly what I like. No episodic stuff. I think the character design (such as their faces) looks a little under developed, but that's a really minor complaint. It makes up for it with the animation's style and rapidly moving images and the immense amount of action and exciting dialog. I love the second main character too; That older guy, the Brigade leader guy.I can't really say enough about this anime. I just can't really remember those Japanese names too well...

Episode 4 is a train wreck and looks like shit, but that's because of problems with the art director being sick and other fun stuff. It goes right back to normal afterward.

Teggen Toppa Gurren Laggen is really frickin cool. I started watching it this evening and I haven't even had the slightest urge to stop watching it yet. The animation is top notch. The characters are very likable and interesting. The story seems to progress with each episode, which is exactly what I like. No episodic stuff. I think the character design (such as their faces) looks a little under developed, but that's a really minor complaint. It makes up for it with the animation's style and rapidly moving images and the immense amount of action and exciting dialog. I love the second main character too; That older guy, the Brigade leader guy.I can't really say enough about this anime. I just can't really remember those Japanese names too well...

Episode 4 is a train wreck and looks like shit, but that's because of problems with the art director being sick and other fun stuff. It goes right back to normal afterward.

I noticed that. I was like WHATEVS!

I had to keep watching until episode 12. Past I think episode 8 left me feeling sad, but around episode 12 or 13, I finally feel like I had reached the point that I could put down the series for the night, because I finally felt uplifted after episode 8. Wow, I actually almost kind of had a half tear at the end of episode 12 or 13 when Simon regains his inner strength.

I had to keep watching until episode 12. Past I think episode 8 left me feeling sad, but around episode 12 or 13, I finally feel like I had reached the point that I could put down the series for the night, because I finally felt uplifted after episode 8. Wow, I actually almost kind of had a half tear at the end of episode 12 or 13 when Simon regains his inner strength.

If you can make it past episode 4, you're golden.

Man, reading about your watching this show for the first time makes me think about when I first saw it and how often I was blown away by it. If you thought things were good now, you haven't seen ANYTHING yet. You hit episode 16 and things make an . . . . interesting turn. Then, you will have a certain someone very much. Then, the epic gets turned up to infinity. Literally. Dang, it's hard to describe the second half of that show without touching on spoilers. I've probably said too much already. Great series.